I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to shipping carriers for components.
II. Description of Related Art
Shipping carriers are oftentimes used to ship manufactured components from the place of manufacture and to their place of assembly. For example, in the automotive industry many of the individual components of the automotive vehicles, such as automotive windshields, are manufactured in one location and then shipped to a different location for their assembly on the automotive vehicle.
With reference to FIG. 2, such shipping containers of the type used in the automotive industry typically include a rigid frame constructed of rectangular metal tubing 20. Furthermore, the metal tubing includes a longitudinally extending slot 22 formed along one of the sides of the tubing.
Thereafter, an elongated retainer 24, typically constructed of plastic and having a T-portion 26 along one side, is slid into the interior of the square metal tubing so that the T-portion 26 of the retainer is entrapped within the interior of the tubing 20. The remainder of the retainer 24 protrudes outwardly through the slot 22 in the tubing 20 and protrudes exteriorly of the tubing 20. The retainer also includes dunnage 28, typically made of urethane or an elastomeric material, which is molded onto the outwardly protruding portion of the retainer 24. This dunnage 28 is specifically designed to accommodate the particular load of the shipping carrier.
These previously known shipping carriers, however, suffer from a number of disadvantages. One disadvantage is that the slotted square metal tubing used to form the frame and hold the retainers is expensive to manufacture and purchase. This, in turn, increases the overall cost of the shipping carrier.
A still further disadvantage of the previously known shipping carriers is that, in order to position the retainer with the attached dunnage into the slotted metal tubing, it is necessary to disassemble the slotted metal tubing from the frame, insert the T-portion of the retainer into the interior of the metal tubing, and thereafter reattach the metal tubing to the frame. This, of course, increases the assembly time and cost of the shipping container as well as the time necessary to convert the shipping container from one type of transported item to a different type of transported item.